Chapter 12: Doubts and Dead People
In his final days, I decided to visit Andrew one last time. He's continued to avoid implementation, much like most of the old generation, saying that it's for the best. Public relations seem to drag on indefinitely, but I hope I could at some point soon put away the suit for good. The fling I had with Alice when we were younger was just temporary, but I might have time to improve our friendship now that certain things are out of the way. Maybe make the next big step too.
May 27, 2069
17 hrs/06 min/41 sec
Khonsu, Müller Memorial Hospital
"Please, Fredrick. As my final wish, I just want you to stay strong. I know the galaxy isn't as we hoped it to be, but it's the only way forward," Andrew Müller said from his rocking chair. The old man's final days had come, and he was spending them in the hospital after his own name, mostly on the balcony, looking over the now flourishing Khonsu. Since the prime of his life, he poured every ounce of his lively energy to transforming a barren rock into Humanity's future.
"I know, my old friend. But when will they accept us?" Fredrick asked, leaning against the door frame.
"Yes. But seeing how you still look ripe with youth, maybe you'll live to see the day when your kind is cherished for what it is. Renown as a gift from the gods, for all you'll have accomplished."
Fredrick sighed. "Maybe. Have any final regrets, Andrew?"
Andrew made a sharp grunt, adjusting himself in his chair. "None, but it's an awful shame that I never got around to discovering who's ruins we dug up in the first place. They clearly aren't Prothean, so the real question is, whose are they then?"
"Nothing besides that? All you ever sought was the completion of whatever story you we're following?"
"Oh, dear Fredrick. Life, in my honest opinion is about setting out what you plan to do, doing it, and then enjoying the spoils of your actions. That's all that matters." With that, Andrew took a sharp breath in, and gave a satisfied sigh. That was his final breath.
At that moment, Fredrick pitied him. A mystery unsolved, and would never know the true answer. In retrospect, decades later, Fredrick realized just how lucky Andrew was to skip the storm that was brewing just around the corner.
12 hrs/31 min/57 sec
Council Conference Room, Citadel Tower, Citadel Station
"I'm not entirely sure. As much as we may see the Terran Republic as a potential threat, they are very strong trading allies," Councilor Yeral said. He knew the Salarians of various groups greatly sought trade agreements within the Terran Republic, as their tech was greatly sought after.
"You're people's disposition is clouding your judgement, Yeral. I've seen the various reports from Turians of various ranks. They are very capable in the field, and can reduce entire armies to ashes with just a half-dozen men. With those numbers, we are forced to stay their allies," Councilor Desimius growled.
"What concerns me is their technology. They clearly base theirs off ancient findings, but they seemingly fail to claim whatever they dig up most of the time," Tevos said. Of course, the Asari weren't much better, as they kept to themselves a working Prothean beacon in a temple on Thessia that gave tidings of doom for the sake of remaining technologically superior to everyone else.
"Hence, why they are such good trading partners. Most of their products are moved largely under the table, away from prying eyes, and making transactions much safer. Additionally, they readily provide tech no one else can produce," Yeral finished, not that he didn't share the others' concern. He personally felt that so long as they did trade with the Terran Republic, there would be no need for conflict.
"If neither of you are going to commit to anything, I suppose that doing it myself won't hurt," Tevos glared angrily at the others. "I've kept my ears open, listening, and I've found something potentially useful. If you two will excuse me, I have some unattended business to complete." Councilor Tevos proceeded to walk out of the conference, leaving the other two confused councilors behind.
June 9, 2069
10 hrs/21 min/10 sec
TMD PersistenceHanger Bay, en route to the Ismar Frontier
Fredrick hung out by Amory's gunship, pondering deeply. The Salarian mine they were approaching had found another artifact, different to the ones found in the Ra System, they looked organic, had a blue hue about them, and had a strange tendency to drive those nearby insane. The artifact was quarantined, and even covered in plating to reduce its effect, but was going to be moved into a lab on the Citadel for further study. Furthermore, the Asari Republics would be sending a couple squads of their own commandos to assist in protective services. These missions were greatly taking a toll on Fredrick's morale. When were they considered ready? Had they not proved themselves to be contributing pillars of society? Even though he'd be meeting Benjamin's team, Alice included, back at the Citadel for drop-off, he couldn't find comfort.
"Boss, look I know you're pissed off, but acting the angry wolf around everyone won't help either," Amory piped up, hopping out of the gunship.
Fredrick flinched at Amory calling him by his nickname. It was a name that caused mercs and soldiers all across the galaxy to void their bladders prematurely. "The Wolf" had started to stick on him, but none of his friends or family called him that. Even Andrew called him by his first name. "I thought I said something about not using that word?" Fredrick asked, voice dripping with acid.
Amory threw down his wielding torch and shook his head with sorrow. "I'm sorry Fred. It's who you are. If it'd make you feel better, we could all go with animal nicknames."
Fredrick raised his eyebrow with suspicion. "Are you serious, or is that insult to injury?"
"No Fred! I'm serious! We could call Ivan 'The Bear', Lauren 'The Python', and-"
"You 'The Phoenix?' That'd sound logical and graceful," Fredrick interrupted.
"Of course! If they simply see us as animals on the battlefield, I don't see why not embrace it?"
Fredrick genuinely smiled for the first time in two months.
21 hrs/23 min/09 sec Local Time
Aquila System, Vecchio
Salarian Mining Camp
Amory "The Phoenix" Johnson's gunship landed at the Mining Station's hanger area, before starting to deploy his passengers. Fredrick "The Wolf" Müller exited the gunship, followed closely by Ivan "The Bear" Sokolov, Mary "The Hawk" Ross, Henry "The Dragon" Shinoya, Lauren "The Python" Schmitt, and Nolan "The Gorilla" White. All the members had recently painted their animal emblems on the "foreheads" of their helmets. At one of the other landing platforms was the dropship deploying the Asari commandos who would assist with any complications. In the transport hub, Fredrick's team met with the Asari team leader.
"Hello, I am Major Samelthea T'zeros of the Asari Commandos. It is a pleasure to meet you, Wolf," the Major said, reaching forward her right hand to greet Fredrick.
"Likewise. And please, it's Fredrick," he answered.
"I figured you would have preferred the alias. It gives a nice aura about you," she smirked. The two were approached by a Salarian before either could continue.
"Greetings! I am Administrator Itik Vulis. I cannot express how grateful I am that you have arrived," the Salarian saluted.
"Has the artifact been causing problems?" Samelthea asked.
"Indeed," Itik responded. "It has been causing a number of mental health cases among miners who have been close for too long. Infected miners become increasingly aggressive, schizophrenic, and attempt to sabotage various pieces of critical machinery around the base. We did find some material to contain it in to prevent further injury," he explained as the group walked onto the mine elevator.
"What symptoms can you tell me about these infected?" Fredrick asked as the elevator began its decent.
"Nothing we've ever seen before. Earliest victims said they heard voices, experienced brief hallucinations, felt increasingly confused, and had clear lapses in their memories. When we scanned them, their brains had developed erratic neurological firing patterns, malformed hormonal glands, and multiple malignant brain tumors. A few who had minor exposure might be treatable, but those who are much further along cannot be saved," the administrator explained grimly.
"I'm sorry. I'll see to it that those who are treatable are shipped off world, and get what they need. If it comes down to it, we'll take responsibility over euthanizing the completely infected," Fredrick said, attempting to put the administrator's worries to rest.
"How long have these cases been appearing for, administrator?" Samelthea asked as the doors on the elevator opened at their destination.
"Almost two weeks now. At first, we didn't know what was causing the illness. We eventually did find the chasm with the artifact," Vulis said, gesturing to a group of Salarians lugging a metalic, sealed crate towards them. "I couldn't possibly have imagined what could possibly have happened to my men had they been exposed any longer," continued, shaking his head with worry as the crate was loaded onto the elevator, before pressing the button to begin the journey back up again.
Fredrick used his advanced ocular implants to look through the crate and at the artifact. It was a small, metallic sphere, with intricate symbols engraved into the outer layer of the object, allowing blue light to seep out of the object.
They reached the top of the shaft when the administrator finally spoke up again. "I hope you can find answers from the artifact. I'd really like to know where-" Vulis' head exploded before he could finish his thought, splattering his brains all over Lauren, and sending him collapsing onto the floor.
The team looked up to the railing to their right at the source of the gunshot. At the observatory railing was a group of Vorcha, Krogan, and Asari wearing red armor. Fredrick's eyes immediately snapped onto the white skull-and-fist emblem on their chest-plates and shoulder-pads.
"Blood Pack! Take them down!" Fredrick ordered as he put forth a biotic barrier to protect his team. Krogan were especially annoying to deal with, but weren't extremely hard to deal with.
Clearing the catwalk, Nolan quickly ran over to a security station, glancing over the monitor. "Captain, we have Blood Pack gunships at the North West and South East sections of the mining facility. They're all over the damn place!" Nolan said with frustration.
"I'll take my team and head North West, and protect the artifact since we have more troops on us. You head to the South East and clear that section out," Major T'zeros said. Taking her team and the crate off to the door on the opposite side of the room.
Fredrick's team rushed through the facility, fighting off small packs of Vorcha, Turians, Krogan, Asari, and one lonesome Batarian. Fredrick charged forward, pinning the Batarian to a wall, and held his particle blade at the soldier's throat. "Nice little surprise to see you gentlemen here. I'll only ask once, why are you here? What are you looking for?"
The Batarian only chuckled. "I'm not telling you anything, Aug." Those were his final words, as Fredrick left him to choke on the newly formed hole in his windpipe, blood gushing on the floor.
Wolf! Come in, Wolf. This is Bear. The Blood Pack are retreating. Repeat, the Blood Pack are retreating.
"What the hell is going on over there? Hawk, what's your status?"
Hawk reporting. These gash little fuckers just pulled out of my line of sight like roaches out of a kitchen.
Wolf, this is Phoenix. You wouldn't believe how quickly these damn mercs just hauled arse off the planet. The landed as quickly as they took off. I gunned down some of them at the South East, some of the ships at the North end got away.
Captain, this is Major Samelthae here. They took the artifact. A Krogan Warlord and an Asari vanguard put me and my men in stasis before we could properly take cover. We couldn't get to them in time before they took off. It was a smash-and-grab.
"Fuck!" Fredrick yelled, kicking a Blood Pack Turian's corpse across the room. "Is it possible to still track them?" He asked.
They're gone. Nothing we can do about it, but report back to the Citadel, over.
"Understood. We'll meet you at the transport hub once we're done cleaning up. Come on, guys. We've got a few corpses we could still get answers off of."
19 hrs/51 min/00 sec Local Time
Citadel Docks, Citadel Station
It was a long day. After they tended to any wounded miners and checked the dead mercs for potential leads, they found nothing. No possible leads to help them search for the attackers, and now the Blood Pack troops were dragging off the horrid piece of ancient tech to God-knows where, presumably for some malicious entrepreneur to reap its benefits.
He walked down the docking tunnel, looking down with defeat when he encountered Alice at the other side. He sighed, now feeling a bizarre mix between anger, lust, angst, and calmness.
"Fredrick!" she called, running forward to greet him, both still wearing their armor. "I read the report. I hope things weren't too bad, were they?" she asked.
Fredrick shrugged, looked up, and put a gauntlet through her strands of brown hair. "I don't know. I just really hate the thought that the bad guys actually got away with their prize. I should've been there, guarding that damn artifact. Maybe then I could have succeeded," he answered somberly. "It's just, all this rushing around seems pointless. We haven't made any real progress since we've started, and I don't see any reason to carry on."
She answered by putting her gauntlet on his cheek. "Fredrick, who knows what would have happened had you encountered that ambush. I couldn't bear to think of a world without you," she said, tone filled with worry as she looked at him like he was dying in her arms.
He suddenly felt warm again. He had hope to carry on. He did have something left in that hell-hole of a galaxy to turn to when the cards were down, and he was out of options. "I don't know what I'd do without you, Alice. All I can say is that I'd be completely lost," he said with some cheer starting to grow on his voice.
21 hrs/01 min/47 sec
Asari Councilor's Office, Citadel Station
Tevos sighed. It was a risky call, that day. Fortunately, it payed off, and she got away without so much as anyone casting a glance in her general direction. She was desperate for any weapon against the Terran Republic, and took great strides to find something. She made an agreement with the Blood Pack earlier that day to secure the artifact for her and drop it off at an Asari establishment for further research.
The doors to her office suddenly slid open, giving way to Major T'zeros for her debriefing.
"I read the report. Was the Wolf completely unsuspecting of your actual intentions?" Tevos asked.
Yes Councilor. The package was successfully handed off to the Blood Pack with no injuries or casualties sustained. En route back to the Citadel, I had received word from the mercenaries that the package was delivered. The Wolf and his pack never suspected a thing, the Major reported.
"Good. Your next assignment is to retrieve an Aug test subject to see the full effect of the artifact," the councilor said, handing the major a datapad.
Do you want someone from the Lieutenant's squad? the major asked.
"No. The Terran Republic would raise questions if something so much as happened to their poster-children, but it's a good start. I'm aware there is another squad of the same generation and same level of augmentation, their Cobalt Squad as they say. I'll set up some mission that requires them to become quickly separated, I'll contact the Blood Pack again to capture one of them. Once the job is done, you are to oversee the experimentation, and make sure the subject doesn't escape."
